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Joshua 8:23

in Joshua 8

But they took the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

KJV

And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

This verse in Joshua 8

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

king of Ai they took

on Joshua 8:23-25

Twelve thousand is the whole population, men and women counted together, so the spies at 7:3 were right that the town was small. What they had wrong was what the size of a town had to do with the outcome, since the defeat came from the accursed thing named at 7:11. Clarke reads verse 24 of those left inside, the women and children and old men, since the fighting strength had gone out after Israel.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It was a federal transaction: the covenant was now renewed between God and Israel upon their taking possession of the land of promise, that they might be encouraged in the conquest of it, and might know upon what terms they held it, and come under fresh obligations to obedience. In token of the covenant, I. They built an altar, and offered sacrifice to God (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

And the king of Ai they took alive,.... They spared him, and reserved him for a more shameful death: and brought him to Joshua; their general; delivering him into his hands as his prisoner, to do will, him as seemed good in his sight.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH85310935 times

  • מֶ֥לֶךְ[the] king of

    melekhH44282525 times

  • הָעַ֖י<the> Ai

    haaiH585740 times

  • תָּ֣פְשׂוּthey captured

    tafesuH8610

  • חָ֑יalive

    chaiH2416498 times

  • וַיַּקְרִ֥בוּand they brought near

    vaiyakrivuH7126280 times

  • אֹת֖וֹ<obj.> him

    ʾotoH85310935 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H4135510 times

  • יְהוֹשֻֽׁעַ׃Joshua

    yehoshua'H3091218 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Revelation 19:20

    But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and…

    it leads to

    • Revelation 20:10

      And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown. There they will be tormented day…

    • Revelation 21:8

      But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This…

    • Daniel 7:7–14

      After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying—dreadful and extremely strong—with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot…

    • 2 Thessalonians 2:8–11

      And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.

    • Revelation 20:14–15

      Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 15:8

    He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, but devoted all the others to destruction with the sword.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 30:1

      On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.

    • Numbers 24:7

      Water will flow from his buckets, and his seed will have abundant water. His king will be greater than Agag, and his kingdom will be exalted.

    • Esther 3:1

      After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.

About Joshua

Joshua Burns the Town of Ai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Joshua Burns the Town of Ai — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.